Google MapsLebanon Cheese Co. of Lebanon, N.J., and its president, Joseph G. Lotito, are accused of using tainted milk in its ricotta cheese.

Lebanon Cheese Co. and its president, Joseph G. Lotito of Annandale, were fined $210,000 in connection with the sale four years ago of ricotta cheese that had been made from contaminated milk.

According to the federal “information” filed in Philadelphia, the defendants one time sold ricotta impastata cheese that was unfit for human consumption because it was manufactured from milk that had been condemned by Pennsylvania dairy processors for failing screening tests for the presence of beta lactum antibiotics.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Rueter on Tuesday, July 31 ordered the company to pay a fine of $200,000 and Lotito, 42, was fined $10,000. Both he and the company were also placed on probation for four years, during which time the company will develop and implement a compliance and ethics plan to ensure that violations of the type charged in this case do not recur.

A total of eight 10-pound containers of the ricotta made from contaminated milk was delivered to a food market in Wyomissing, Pa., around Aug. 20, 2008, the information alleges. That’s what led to the charges, filed March 12.

William DeStefano, the Philadelphia attorney for both the company and Lotito, could not be reached for comment today, Wednesday. But when the charges were filed, he said that besides the relatively minor nature of the alleged offense, the scientific community debates the implications of such infractions.

“There’s a lot of ambiguity, whether or not cheese makers can safely buy (such) milk even though it might have some antibiotics in it.” He explained that some think heating the milk in the cheese-making process causes any antibiotics to be burned off or dissipated.

Lebanon Cheese, on Railroad Avenue in Lebanon, has been in business for decades, making ricotta, mozzarella and other cheeses, mainly for food manufacturers, Italian restaurants, delis and bakeries. Some of the milk for that cheese was supplied by D.A. Landis Trucking, of Lancaster, Pa. From at least 2008 through July 2009, Landis sold at least 20 loads of milk to Lebanon Cheese which had been condemned by Pennsylvania dairy processors for failing screening tests that check for antibiotics, the government claimed.

While Landis said the condemned milk was dumped at a farmer’s manure pit in Willow Street, Pa., in truth company owner Dean Landis, 45, arranged to have the condemned loads delivered to Lebanon Cheese. Lotito purchased the milk for approximately $4 per hundred pounds, where the going rate for raw milk at that time ranged from $12 to $23, depending on the intended end use.

Dean Landis and his company, who also pleaded guilty earlier, were sentenced July 25. They were fined a combined $259,400 and given four years of probation, including 12 months home detention for him. The crime was falsifying driver daily logbooks.

According to the government, between 2007 and 2009, Landis instructed his drivers to prepare and maintain false and fraudulent logbooks, to conceal violations of federal highway safety regulations. The drivers were sent on trips which required excessive hours of driving time and “on-duty” time, without allowing for the required hours of rest or “off-duty” time.

The FDA requires that milk be screened for residues of ampicillin, amoxicillin, cephapirin, ceftiofur, cloxacillin and penicillin. These antibiotics are frequently used by dairy farmers to treat disease in lactating cows. Drug screening of milk is performed for two main reasons: to reduce the likelihood of a person suffering an allergic or anaphylactic reaction to the antibiotics, and to mitigate increased tolerance to antibiotic drugs in humans, the government said.